08/10/2025
๐๐๐ฐ๐ฌ|| ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐ข๐๐
Climate activists from around the world gathered in Pasay City this morning outside Conrad Manila, where the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) is holding its 7th Board Meeting (B7). The protesters, joined by allies from the FRLD Board, called on Global North governments attending the meeting to scale up their financial contributions to the FRLD and stop funding the Gaza genocide.
The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage was established as a result of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at its 28th summit (COP28) held in Egypt in November 2022. The Fund is designed to provide assistance to developing countries for economic and non-economic loss and damage resulting from the adverse effects of climate change, including extreme weather events and slow-onset events. Governments of developed countries, or those in the Global North, are expected to make contributions to the fund, given that they bear primary responsibility for climate change and its impacts.
The mobilization was led by the Asian Peoplesโ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) in the wake of Tropical Storm Nando, Supertyphoon Ragasa, and Tropical Depression Mirasol, which have caused at least $24 million in damages to the agricultural sector and affected 55,600 farmers and agricultural workers in the Philippines. Similar climate-related disasters have struck Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Thailand in recent weeks.
โIn the Philippines and throughout Asia, climate disasters have resulted in massive losses of livelihoods, infrastructure, crops, and even lives. Both economic and non-economic losses are increasing dramatically with each passing year, but governments of the Global North are not meeting their responsibility to mobilize adequate resources,โ says climate activist and APMDD coordinator Lidy Nacpil. โThey are extremely reluctant to provide the funds they owe to the South. Climate impacts are estimated to cost at least $894 billion annually by 2030, a conservative figure that doesnโt account for lost lives, cultures, and ecosystems. In truth, rich countries should be paying a total of at least $1 trillion per year to the FRLD. Yet governments have delivered only $360 million, which is nowhere near enough.โ
โThe cost of the climate crisis should also be measured in loss of life, not just in pesos. Since 2022, an average of 212 Filipinos have died every year from weather-related events. Last year, it was 324. Loss and damage from climate-related disasters and slow-onset events hinder national development, economic growth, and sustainability. An average of 2.2% is taken away from the gross domestic product growth due to climate destruction,โ says Ian Rivera, national coordinator of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice. โThe Philippines has contributed very little to the climate crisis, but countries like ours pay the heaviest price. Rich, polluting countries owe us a debt for the death and destruction theyโve unleashed on our world, and part of this debt must be paid through the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage. The people of the Philippines are now expressing their utmost rejection of the system in light of the massive corruption on a national scale. We demand to change the system and make the culprits pay for their sins and atrocities.โ
Campaigners outside the meeting also commemorated the two-year anniversary of the Gaza genocide by demanding an end to the atrocities against the Palestinian people and pointing out that Global North governments have spent billions to send weapons and military aid to Israel, while claiming that they have inadequate public funds to address the climate crisis. New research has shown that the Global North can raise $6.6 trillion a year in international climate finance, including Loss and Damage finance, by taxing rich polluters, redirecting fossil fuel subsidies, and redistributing just a fraction of military spending.
โThe governments responsible for the Gaza genocide are also the ones most responsible for climate change,โ says labor leader Luke Espiritu, president of Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino. โIn the first year of the genocide, the United States provided $17.9 billion in military aid to Israelโone thousand times the amount they committed to give the FRLD. The US military is also the biggest institutional emitter of greenhouse gasses worldwide. There can be no end to the climate crisis without an end to the US war machine, which has been polluting our world and killing our people for far too long.โ
